Waiting... and Canoeing

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 Boab Caravan Park, Katherine

We got up early, skipped breakfast, filled the van up with water and then drove it to Jun's Garage, arriving just after 8am. We were determined to be first in the queue. Despite that, someone was already in front of us. So we left the keys with Jun, said goodbye to the van, and rode our bikes to get some breakfast at a cafe.

Thereafter Mark and I had diverging plans for the day. I went canoing through the gorges with Ron and Faye. Mark was going to wait in the caravan park to (hopefully) collect the van when it was repaired.

Well I had a marvellous day! A boat picked us up at the boat ramp in Nitmiluk Gorge, and took us up to a few km upstream to the first gorge. We then kayaked, at our own pace, to the second gorge (1.8km). At that point, there was an opportunity to get out the canoe and pull it over rocks to continue further upstream. I managed to get my canoe over the exceptionally-slippery rocks (determined that slipping and breaking an ankle would not be the 'third' bad thing to happen) and then paddled most of the way to the next gorge. 

Small caves to explore

Very peaceful

What was so fantastic about canoing was that you could get right up close to the gorges, even going in little caves. You could also pull over anywhere (except for where there was a sign like below about nesting crocodiles!) and have a swim - which I did several times. It was incredibly quiet and private- a lot of the time I was just on my own. Occasionally would meet up with Ron and Faye or other members of the tour party and have a chat. It was truly magnificent scenery; the photos do not do it justice. 

Some of the areas where you could pull up your canoe had this sign. Apparently the 'freshies' (fresh-water crocs) only have a 2% chance of survival, so this is one effort to help protect them. The gorges are patrolled for salt-water crocodiles (the ones that eat you!) which is why it was safe to swim


Faye and Ron in their canoe

Panoramic view

Mean time I had absolutely no reception or signal on my phone, so as we drove back and got near to Katherine, I got more and more worried about what the news would be about the van. There was ambiguity about the size of the engine (for future records, its 3L not 2.8!) so we were concerned the part might not fit, and then there was the chance that it might not have been the cause of the problem... 

Finally I got reception and called Mark.....

And the van is going!! YAY! All fixed and ready to roll :-) so happy!

But poor Mark... he spent the whole day sitting at our caravan park site (which only had the chairs and table, and of course no van) waiting to hear from Jun. It was so hot that he got sunburned despite sitting in the shade! Only at 530pm did he finally get the news that the van had been repaired, so was able to retrieve it.

Anyway we are feeling very relieved that all has gone well, very grateful (to Jun and team, and to Faye and Ron), and very excited about moving on tomorrow!


Stork in the tree

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